Access QuickBooks Online Data in Mule Applications Using the CData JDBC Driver

The CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks Online connects QuickBooks Online data to Mule applications enabling read , write, update, and delete functionality with familiar SQL queries. The JDBC Driver allows users to easily create Mule applications to backup, transform, report, and analyze QuickBooks Online data.

This article demonstrates how to use the CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks Online inside of a Mule project to create a Web interface for QuickBooks Online data. The application created allows you to request QuickBooks Online data using an HTTP request and have the results returned as JSON. The exact same procedure outlined below can be used with any CData JDBC Driver to create a Web interface for the 200+ available data sources.

1. Create a new Mule Project in Anypoint Studio.
2. Add an HTTP Connector to the Message Flow.
3. Configure the address for the HTTP Connector.
4. Add a Database Select Connector to the same flow, after the HTTP Connector.
5. Create a new Connection (or edit an existing one) and configure the properties.
   • Set Connection to "Generic Connection"
   • Select the CData JDBC Driver JAR file in the Required Libraries section (e.g. cdata.jdbc.quickbooksonline.jar).
   • Set the URL to the connection string for QuickBooks Online

     QuickBooks Online uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to log in through the browser. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Intuit. Additionally, if you want to connect to sandbox data, set UseSandbox to true.

     See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the QuickBooks Online JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     java -jar cdata.jdbc.quickbooksonline.jar

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   • Set the Driver class name to cdata.jdbc.quickbooksonline.QuickBooksOnlineDriver.
   • Click Test Connection.
6. Set the SQL Query Text to a SQL query to request QuickBooks Online data. For example: SELECT DisplayName, Balance FROM Customers
7. Add a Transform Message Component to the flow.
8. Set the Output script to the following to convert the payload to JSON:

   %dw 2.0
   output application/json
   ---
   payload
           

9. To view your QuickBooks Online data, navigate to the address you configured for the HTTP Connector (localhost:8081 by default): http://localhost:8081. The QuickBooks Online data is available as JSON in your Web browser and any other tools capable of consuming JSON endpoints.

At this point, you have a simple Web interface for working with QuickBooks Online data (as JSON data) in custom apps and a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools. Download a free, 30 day trial of the JDBC Driver for QuickBooks Online and see the CData difference in your Mule Applications today.